Barrier opening systems, particularly garage door opening systems, present numerous issues for operation. Present day garage door opening systems include, inter alia, remotely located wireless signal transmitters (for wirelessly generating door instruction signals); a garage door operator, usually of the ceiling-mounted power head type, or of the jackshaft type, with a wireless signal receiver, microcontroller or similar computer processor, associated memory, and a motor controller (for respectively receiving, storing, and processing the wireless transmitter door instruction signals, and generating motor control signals corresponding thereto); and a motor mechanically coupled with the door (for opening, closing, and/or halting movement of, the garage door in response to the respectively generated motor control signals.)
Wireless transmitters include those that are hand-held, automobile mounted, and/or mounted on the interior and/or exterior walls of the garage. As generally known, the user typically selectively depresses buttons or switches on the transmitter to activate and send these door instruction signals to the door operator, the signals normally encoded in a manner to avoid their capture by codegrabbers. These door instruction signals will hereinafter be referred to in the specification and claims as “encoded access control signals.”
To prevent the door operator from responding to a neighbor's or a stranger's unauthorized transmitter, the door operator is typically programmed by the user to respond to encoded access control signals from only authorized transmitters. This is typically accomplished by the transmitter user initially transmitting a code for storage in the door operator's memory that corresponds to the authorization code stored in each transmitter that is to be authorized to communicate with that door operator. This procedure thereby establishes the exclusive pairing of the door operator with only those transmitter(s) that are authorized to communicate with it. Therefore, the term “authorization code” shall be defined, and referred to throughout the specification and claims, as a code that (i) is identical to a code that is stored in both the door operator and in each transmitter that is to be paired, and therefore authorized to communicate, with the door operator, and (ii) must be stored in the door operator and in such authorized transmitter(s) before the door operator can be operative to move the door in response to door instruction signals transmitted by such transmitter(s).
Currently, the typical approach for programming the authorization codes in the door operator is for the end user or installer of the door operator, prior to its operation, to place its microcontroller into the “learn” mode, and then actuate a wireless transmitter in which the authorization code has been stored, to transmit the identical code for storage within the door operator's memory, thus establishing the desired pairing between that transmitter and the door operator. After such pairing operation with respect to all transmitters to communicate with that door operator, the door operator's microcontroller is moved out of its “learn” mode to its “operate” mode, and the door operator is ready for operation.
While this method is designed to accomplish the intended purpose—pre-operation operator/transmitter pairing, there are disadvantages from the standpoint of user convenience. For example, experience has shown that the programming instructions regarding this initial pairing operation have tended to confuse the end user, resulting in the operator not being programmed with an authorization code, therefore being inoperative, and the end user falsely concluding that the non-operative garage door closing system is defective. Thus, it is the principal purpose of this invention to provide a new and improved, and more reliable, method of pairing authorized wireless transmitters with their designated door operator, and without user inconvenience or confusion.